Posted:
Hi guys!! I am new to this forum, but this is a show I follow. I like shows like PSH because of the social reality they try to expose and how they push past the box of which so many Indian serials have been confined (the saas bahu concept, the love story.) Before this I only watched Agle Janam, and I do not watch many Indian serials and so when I see one I like I get very happy. Before beginning my post, I just want to say I am not here to bash and just want to state my opinion. I am also a very big feminist, and my studies in gendered society and cultural sensitivity has led me all the way to my masters thesis. So please realize this is my own bias.
I see a lot of argument about Sugni being with TVS or Adi, and for me I don't think that should be the argument at all. This show, from the start has shown a clash of two worlds in rural India- the Bednis and the Thakurs. Both TVS and Adi are from the world of Thakurs, a world which does not and will not ever fully understand the grievances of the common man. I don't want to get in to a sociology lecture, but it is true, our socialization effects the way we think, eat, share etc. Even as something as simple as women sitting with their legs crossed is a part of our socialization, of women being classy and dignified and taking up as little space as possible. Adi is arrogant, and I don't think I have to comment on some of his horrible comments towards Sugni and bednis and TVS by not acknowledging Sugni deserves to know the truth about his wife, automatically lowers her to a lower position. They both have been socialized to see themselves as implicitly superior, so much so that it is probably at the unconscious level.
So why then does she have to be with either of them? Why does a woman always have to get recognized in society through a man. If she marries either one of these men, her recognition and dignity, her honour would still come from marrying a thakur. Which social norm has really been broken, that the bedni could not break out and create a mould for herself, that if she got any sort of status it was still through a thakur?? What has really changed, the dynamic that the bedni is dependent upon the thakur is still there.
Why are we so fixated on love stories and not female liberation? Why do we always need the woman to be with a man for us to feel happy and content, and feel that finally the show has reached a good end point? Why can't a woman make a stand for herself in society, and better yet, if there is a love story, make it so that the man gets recognition through the woman!! We as woman should constantly ask ourselves these questions, or else we just reinforce the dynamic that is already there.
Just my POV. lots of love and no intention to offend.
Anupamaa
